Table of Contents
Foreword Yusef Komunyakaa xi
A Note on the Early Poems xv
Acknowledgments xvii
From Swallow the Lake (1970)
Abbreviation of the Blues 3
Air 4
Blind Old Woman 5
Longlegs 6
Segregated Self 7
Something Is Eating Me Up Inside 9
From Private Line (1971)
A Mother's Pride 13
Private Line 14
Rock Music USA 15
From Symptoms and Madness (1971)
Picnic 19
Dream 20
The Backyard Smelled of Deodorant 21
Conflict 22
Not This-This Here! 23
This Temple 24
Holy Ghost Woman 25
Theater 26
The Distance between Tomorrow and Me 27
Float Up 28
My People Are in Centers 29
The Rose and Satisfaction 30
From The Cotton Club (1972)
1915 Interior 33
1919 34
In the Interest of Personal Appearance 35
Ladies Day 1902 36
The Bust 37
Like Family 38
Quick History of an Untarnished Sad Moment in Time 39
Rig 40
From The Syncopated Cakewalk (1974)
Bruce and Nina 43
Outpost 44
H 45
The Ground 46
I Depart Some Months for Whole Areas 47
Law Magic 48
The High Purpose 49
Doodle 50
Gothic Westchester 51
Her Emotional Nature 52
Zigzag Patterns 53
Mountain Man 54
Old Car 55
Queen Pamunkey 56
The Jefferson Company 57
The Other End of the Land 58
American Setup 59
Cadillac 64
From Inside Diameter: The France Poems (1985)
Beaulieu 71
Bouquet for Lovers 72
Inside Diameter 73
Losing Control at Nice 75
Over Drinks at Cafe au Charbonnage 76
In the City of Motorbikes 77
Last Days in France 78
Selected Moments in France 79
From Surfaces and Masks (1988)
III, VI, XI, XVI XX, XXVI, XXIX, XXXII, XXXIV, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL, XLI, XLII, XLIV 83
From Some Observations of a Stranger at Zuni in the Latter Part of the Century (1989)
Some Observations of a Stranger at Zuni in the Latter Part of the Century 113
Glossary 145
From Parking Lots (1992)
Parking Lots 153
From Configurations: New and Selected Poems 1958-1998 (1998)
Round Midnight 161
Love against Death 164
Train Stop 167
Un Poco Loco 170
No Time for Self-Pity 174
September Mendocino 175
Brief Visit to Venice 179
Drawing from Life 180
The Slave Trade: View from the Middle Passage 182
Bernardston 191
Frenzy 199
Bricks and Sleep 201
The Apple-Maggot Fly 203
From Waiting for Sweet Betty (2002)
Waiting for Sweet Betty 207
In My Own Language 209
Unknown Presence 210
Mendocino 212
Photograph of a Gathering of People Waving 213
From the Train Window Going and Coming 215
Gathering Mushrooms: Cambria 216
An Eighteenth-Century Moment 217
From Myself Painting (2008)
The Red Bench 223
Plein Air 224
Windows and Women 226
The Young Doctor (1916) 228
East Lansing, Michigan 230
Black Snake Blues 231
Difficult Pose 233
When the Model Does Not Show 235
Three 237
In Search of a Motif for Expressive Female Figuration 240
From Down and Up (2013)
Down and Up 251
Evening Newspaper 253
Father 254
The Rope 255
At The Movies 257
New Poems (2015)
Plein Air 261
Inside Outside (Again) 262
On the Beach 263
Leisure Dilemma 264
Alchemy 265
Holiday at the Beach 266
Waiting for the Storm 267
Ancestor Land 268
Shop or Store 269
Summer Visit 270
Morandi 271
Ava 272
Facebook 274
Mirror, Mirror 275
Domestic Agenda 276
Today's War 277
War and Its Effects 278
Water and Sand 280
Noon 281
The Moon 282
The Seasons 284
From Now On 287
Faith 288
After Light 289
Bitterroot 290
The Vegetable King 291
Hooray! 292
Wild Music 293
The Convex Mirror 295
Symbolism of Chains 296
As with Molly's Yeses 298
We Were All There 299
Dog Fight 300
Classified Notes 301
The Knot 302
On the Road Back 305
Long Avenue and River Street 306
The Sometime Difficulty with Teaching 307
Two Double Burgers 309
A Battlefield 311
Nancy's Nanny Goat 313
The Art of Confessional Poetry 315
The Green Monkey 317
Horses Don't Care 319
Dragons 321
Quicksand 323
The Chipmunk and the Hawk 324
Faith, Hope, and Charity 326
Onion 328
The Invisible 331
Always 333
The Things You Hear 334
